My First Week at SFR

An new SFR's intern's musings, seven days in

July 17, 2012, 11:00 am

By Robert Sobel

Many people have a romantic vision of
what a writer is supposed to look like. Part of this vision includes what
someone is doing when they are engaged in the act of writing. They see a man
alone in a room with a large desk against the wall. They see this man sitting
down in his chair––banging away on his computer or typewriter or writing by
hand. They imagine this room to be completely silent––the
sort of silence conducive to hours of heavy concentration. I found out on my
first day at the Santa Fe Reporter that the environment at a newspaper is very
different from what people imagine.

Working at SFR is a collaborative process right from the start––it is not a
solitary one. Even as an intern, I have a copy editor checking my work. He’s
making sure that the information I’m uploading to the paper is correct, and
he’s also checking to see if my sentences are grammatically sound. I am in the
same room as the other interns, the arts and culture editor and the copy editor.
The sounds of clattering keyboards, phone call conversations, music playing and
the consumption of potato chips make up just part of the acoustics of the room
that we all share.

My job is to upload current events onto the Internet. I do
this while everyone else simultaneously works on their respective parts of the
paper. This creates a contrasting experience to my personal vision of the
writers’ process. Instead of feeling like I usually do when I sit down to
write––which is that it’s a lonesome enterprise. I feel at SFR like I’m part of
a team––part of a living organism that is in constant forward motion.

The interesting thing about a newspaper is that it’s a
process that never really ends. When an article is finished, work for the next
one starts immediately. This week’s issue of SFR comes out, while
simultaneously everyone is scurrying to finish their work for the following
issue in order to meet the deadline.

After just spending one week in the office, this perpetual
output of new material seems like a high pressure but gratifying experience.

Since working at a newspaper is an ongoing process, it
allows for the individual writing the articles to evolve and improve­­ their
work––so keep an eye out for yours truly and fellow culture intern Padraic
O’Neil’s work.